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MOVIES | - 117 items found in your search |
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Garcia, Andy Jacobi, Derek Dead Again
Branagh, Kenneth September 23, 1997 VHS 107 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com&newline;British thespian and sophomore director Kenneth Branagh follows up his adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V with this abrupt change of pace, a slick, stylish thriller evocative of Hitchcock, classic film noir, and gothic shockers. Sporting an exaggerated American accent, Branagh stars as L.A. private eye Mike Church, a hard-boiled but softhearted detective who takes on the case of a mysterious amnesiac (Branagh's then-real-life wife, Emma Thompson). With the help of an offbeat furniture dealer and part-time hypnotist (Derek Jacobi), Grace (as Mike has named her) dredges up her hidden memories. Little do they realize that her recollections are of a past life in L.A.'s recent history, and as she recounts the details of a famous marriage that ended with a notorious murder (played out as black-and-white flashbacks starring Branagh and Thompson), events of the present begin to mirror the past, as if fate were pulling the two into fatal replay of history. Branagh's flashy, flourished direction echoes with an array of '40s and '50s classics and near classics (most notably Hitchcock's Rebecca and Spellbound) and drives the story with an edgy urgency, all the better to distract from some of the sillier elements of the plot. But while this film may not make literal sense in the harsh light of day, in the twilit, shadowy world of classic Hollywood this slyly inventive thriller is a bravura bit of old-fashioned entertainment, done up with modern flair. --Sean Axmaker From The New Yorker&newline;This murder mystery, directed by Kenneth Branagh from a wildly complicated screenplay by Scott Frank, wears its inanity on its sleeve. It shuttles breezily between the present day, in which an L.A. detective named Mike Church (Branagh) is trying to discover the identity of an attractive amnesiac (Emma Thompson), and the late forties, in which a European composer and conductor (also Branagh) may or may not have murdered his pianist wife (also Thompson). These stories are, of course, connected: the amnesiac might even be a reincarnation of the conductor's wife, stabbed to death with a pair of scissors forty years earlier. Branagh makes no attempt to disguise the script's preposterousness. He revels in it, both as actor and as director. The mood of the picture is both frivolous and spooky, and the suspense often seems a function of sheer giddiness: as the movie dances, with drunken insouciance, toward the simultaneous climaxes of its two stories, the tension we feel is partly fear that Branagh won't be able to maintain his precarious balance. Finally, the picture does come crashing down. When it's time to wrap up the mystery, the movie leaves too many of the plot's enigmas unresolved, and Branagh's insouciance loses its charm. Throughout, he has toyed affectionately with mystery-fiction conventions and old-movie style, and his dash and flair have carried us along. But the botched conclusion casts a bit of a pall over the reckless fun that the movie has given us. In the end, Branagh's approach to the genre seems negligent, insultingly cavalier. Also with Derek Jacobi, Andy Garcia, Hanna Schygulla, and (in a hilarious cameo) Robin Williams. -Terrence Rafferty &newline;Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1991
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Gibson, Mel Russo, Rene Ransom
Howard, Ron November 4, 1997 VHS 121 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com essential video&newline;When it comes to ramping up to vein-bursting levels of tormented anxiety, Mel Gibson has a kind of mainstream intensity that makes him perfect for his heroic-father role in director Ron Howard's child-kidnapping thriller. When you think of Ransom, you automatically think of the scene in which Mel reaches his boiling point and yells, &doublequote;Give me back my son!&doublequote; to the kidnapper on the other end of several torturous phone calls. Trapped in the middle of any parent's nightmare, Mel plays a self-made airline mogul whose son (played by Brawley Nolte, son of actor Nick Nolte) is abducted by a close-knit group of uptight kidnappers. But when a king's ransom is demanded for the child's safe return, Mel turns the tables and offers the ransom as reward money for anyone who provides information leading to the kidnappers' arrest. Thus begins a nerve-racking battle of wills and a test of the father's conviction to carry out a plan that could cost his son's life. The boy's mother (played by Rene Russo, reunited with Gibson after Lethal Weapon 3) disapproves of her husband's life-threatening gamble, and a seasoned FBI negotiator (Delroy Lindo) is equally fearful of disaster as the search for the kidnappers intensifies. Through it all, Howard maintains a level of nail-biting tension to match Gibson's desperate ploy, and the plot twists are just clever enough to cancel out the overwrought performances and manipulative screenplay. Ransom may not be as sophisticated as its glossy production design would suggest, but it's a thriller with above-average intelligence and an emotion-driven plot that couldn't be more urgent. Adding to the intensity is a superior supporting cast including Gary Sinise, Lili Taylor, and Liev Schreiber as the kidnappers, who demonstrate that even the tightest scheme can unravel under unexpected stress. Remade from a 1956 film starring Glenn Ford, Ransom is diluted by a few too many subplots, but as a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, it's a slick and satisfying example of Hollywood entertainment. --Jeff Shannon Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1996
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4 |
Glover, Danny Dafoe, Willem Flight of the Intruder
Milius, John September 1, 1998 VHS 115 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com&newline;Time has been kind to Flight of the Intruder, a rousing aviation-action adventure that looks better now than it did to critics who panned it in 1991. Perhaps they were expecting a Tom Clancy-ish blockbuster (producer Mace Neufeld oversaw the Jack Ryan franchise), but director John (Conan the Barbarian) Milius had something potentially more substantial in mind. The first 75 minutes are pure Milius: Macho bluster, male bonding among ill-fated pilots and Naval bombardiers, and a Big Wednesday-like passion for dangerous fun. But Milius's favorite topics have sharper teeth here: He's made a scathing anti-Vietnam film that still honors the bravery of soldiers who do their job even when the job itself seems pointless. That's why ace Brad Johnson (why didn't he become a huge star?) and maverick bombardier Willem Dafoe plot a renegade mission, bombing a Hanoi arms depot with their low-altitude A-6 Intruder in the movie's pyrotechnical climax. Fringe benefits abound, including early roles for Tom Sizemore, Ving Rhames, and David Schwimmer in his big-screen debut, three years before Friends and looking like the dweeby grandchild of his Band of Brothers martinet. --Jeff Shannon Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1991
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Goldblum, Jeff Davis, Geena The Fly
December 7, 1992 VHS 96 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com essential video&newline;David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of the science fiction classic about a scientist who accidentally swaps body parts with a fly is both smart and terrifying: an allegory for the awful processes of slow death and a monster movie with a tragic spin. Jeff Goldblum gives a masterful performance as a sweet, nerdy scientist whose romance with a writer (Geena Davis) makes him more fully alive. Next thing you know, a tiny oversight in an experiment causes him to transmogrify, gradually, into something more like an insect than a human. This is Cronenberg (Scanners, Videodrome) country, so expect The Fly to be a gross-out, but in the way that disease corrupts the body and can make a loved one unrecognizable on every level. This is one of Cronenberg's best films, and certainly one of the important movies of the 1980s. --Tom Keogh Product Description&newline;Seth Brundle, a brilliant but eccentric scientist attempts to woo investigative journalist Veronica Quaife by offering her a scoop on his latest research in the field of matter transportation, which against all the expectations of the scientific establishment have proved successful. Up to a point. Brundle thinks he has ironed out the last problem when he successfully transports a living creature, but when he attempts to teleport himself a fly enters one of the transmission booths, and Brundle finds he is a changed man. Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1986
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6 |
GORE, COILE, JEFF TASSIN, FERGUSON, BISHOP, HPKINS DENNY Over Washington an Aerial Celebration
PINGRY, MARC VHS 60 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Product Description&newline;The Over Washington video is an hour long airborne journey through the beauty, history and personality of Washington State...a celebration of its rivers, mountains, forests, cities and shoreline. Closed Caption: N
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7 |
Grant, Cary Russell, Rosalind His Girl Friday
Hawks, Howard January 1, 2002 VHS 92 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com essential video&newline;The Front Page, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's classic 1928 newspaper play, has had three official film versions and contributed structural DNA to half the movies ever made about professional camaraderie and fierce love-hate friendships. Lewis Milestone's 1931 movie is well respected (Billy Wilder's 1974 version isn't), but this is one case where the remake towers brilliantined head and blocked shoulders above the original. &newline;&newline;Howard Hawks had the inspired notion of making Hildy Johnson--the ace newsman whom demonic editor Walter Burns is trying to keep from quitting and getting married--a she instead of a he. What's more, she's not only Walter's star reporter but also his ex-wife. When Hildy (Rosalind Russell) comes to tell Walter (Cary Grant) she's leaving the newspaper business, he bamboozles her into carrying out one last assignment--a death-row interview with a little nebbish (John Qualen) convicted of killing a policeman. It sounds like a snap, but before you can say screwball comedy, the press room of the Criminal Courts Building has become ground zero for all the lunacy a jailbreak, a shooting, an impromptu suicide, a corrupt city administration, and the most Machiavellian &doublequote;hero&doublequote; in the American cinema can supply. &newline;&newline;His Girl Friday is one of the, oh, five greatest dialogue comedies ever made; Hawks had his cast play it at breakneck speed, and audiences hyperventilate trying to finish with one laugh so they can do justice to the four that have accumulated in the meantime. Russell, not Hawks's first choice to play Hildy, is triumphant in the part, holding her own as &doublequote;one of the guys&doublequote; and creating an enduring feminist icon. Grant is a force of nature, giving a performance of such concentrated frenzy and diamond brilliance that you owe it to yourself to devote at least one viewing of the movie to watching him alone. But then you have to go back (lucky you) and watch it again for the sake of the press-room gang--Roscoe Karns, Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Regis Toomey, Frank Jenks, and others--the kind of ensemble work that gets character actors onto Parnassus. --Richard T. Jameson Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1940
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8 |
Grant, Hugh Fleet, James Four Weddings and a Funeral
Newell, Mike January 30, 1996 VHS 117 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com essential video&newline;A surprise hit and one of the highest grossing films ever to come out of Great Britain, this effortlessly enchanting romantic comedy finds confirmed bachelor Hugh Grant (Nine Months) attending weddings with his single friends as they all lament not being able to commit. Grant keeps running into an attractive American (Andie MacDowell) at these festivities and begins a long-running affair with her, even as he attends her own wedding, the funeral of one of his best friends, and his own pending nuptials. Featuring a spirited supporting cast including Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient) as the acerbic friend quietly in love with Grant, this touching and funny film with a mischievous sense of humor and some truly heartbreaking moments is destined to become one of the classic romantic comedies of all time. --Robert Lane Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1994
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9 |
Heston, Charlton McDowall, Roddy Planet of the Apes
Schaffner, Franklin J. November 12, 2001 VHS 112 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com essential video&newline;Many early science fiction films are now, quite inadvertently (and in most cases undeservedly), objects of camp attention: we laugh at the silly makeup, tin-can special effects, and the naive &doublequote;high-tech&doublequote; dialogue. Planet of the Apes is no such film. Its intelligent script, frightening costuming, and savagely effective conclusion (which needs no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. When Colonel George Taylor (the fabulous Charlton Heston) crash lands his spacecraft on what seems to be an unfamiliar planet, he is captured and held prisoner by a dominant race of hyperrational, articulate apes. However, the ape community is riven with internal dissention, centered in no small part on its policy toward humans, who, on this planet, are treated as mindless animals. Befriended and ultimately assisted by the more liberal simians, Taylor escapes--only to find a more terrifying obstacle confronting his return home. Heavy-handed object lessons abound--the ubiquity of generational warfare, the inflexibility of dogma, the cruelty of prejudice--and the didactic fingerprints of Rod Serling are very much in evidence here. But director Franklin Schaffner has a dark, pop-apocalyptic sci-fi vision all his own, and time has not dulled the monumental emotional impact of the film's climactic payoff shot. If you don't know what I'm talking about here, you owe it to yourself to check out this stone classic, and even if you do, see it with fresh eyes; and don't be surprised if you get the chills all over again... and again... and again. --Miles Bethany Product Description&newline;Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall star in this legendary science fiction masterpiece. Astronaut Taylor (Heston) crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist (McDowall). Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1968
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11 |
Jones, Tommy Lee Judd, Ashley Double Jeopardy
Beresford, Bruce August 1, 2000 VHS 105 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com&newline;Young Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) is happy as a clam, and why not? She's got a loving, successful husband (Bruce Greenwood), an adorable son, and an island home to die for. One morning, after a romantic sailing expedition with her husband, Libby finds herself covered in blood. Her husband's missing, the boat resembles a murder scene, and there's a knife on the deck. One might stop right there and call for help; Libby, however, takes matters--or, more specifically, the knife--into her own hands, and the moment she does, there's the Coast Guard. Faster than you can say frame-up, Libby's been charged with murder and jailed, with her young son stripped from her custody. It's all cut-and-dried, except for one thing: Libby's husband isn't dead, and she's about to track him down. And thanks to the Fifth Amendment's double jeopardy rule, she can't be charged twice for his murder. &newline;&newline;Double Jeopardy has a singularly seductive revenge premise and, in Judd, one of the most seductive leading ladies to grace the silver screen in recent years. So then why does this thriller feel like it came from the bottom of the Lifetime television movie barrel? Instead of taking a gritty, hard-boiled approach, the film plays up all of Libby's mushy emotions--tellingly, the director here is Bruce Beresford, whose best film, Driving Miss Daisy, is as far from thriller territory as you can get. No matter how stoically or deviously Judd plays her, Libby comes across as a soccer mom with a slight taste for blood. Only in a few scenes, specifically when she tracks her wily husband to his new identity in New Orleans, does Judd get to strut her stuff, stealing an evening gown and crashing his charity auction. Most of the time, though, this thriller offers only a smattering of suspense. Well, at least like Libby, the filmmakers can't be condemned twice for the same crime. With Tommy Lee Jones duplicating his Fugitive role, as Libby's conscientious parole officer. --Mark Englehart From The New Yorker&newline;This revenge fantasy isn't believable for an instant, but it provides basic emotional satisfactions, and it's become a hit. Ashley Judd gets sent to prison for the murder of her embezzling handsome rotter of a husband, Bruce Greenwood. When she realizes he's still alive-he staged the whole thing and set her up-she becomes a single-minded avenger, a woman without fear. Director Bruce Beresford brings some delicate character touches to the material and enough space for the moods to ripen, though you may catch yourself wishing that Hitchcock could take over and provide a little wit. Tommy Lee Jones is the parole officer who falls in love with Judd's courage. -David Denby &newline;Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1999
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12 |
Jr., John Cothran DeVito, Danny Get Shorty
November 12, 1996 VHS 105 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com essential video&newline;John Travolta is the standout in this somewhat cartoonish adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel about a smalltime Miami enforcer (Travolta) who decides to get into the movie business in L.A. The cast sparkles--Gene Hackman as a failing cut-rate-movie producer, Rene Russo as a failed actress, Danny DeVito as a vain thespian, Delroy Lindo as a mobster who wants a cut of Travolta's film action--and the script is clever. But not clever enough: this isn't Robert Altman's The Player, as far as satires about Hollywood go. But director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) keeps it cute and brisk and that makes for an enjoyable experience. Travolta is great as a vaguely dangerous, supremely self-confident man whose love of movies makes him almost cuddly. The DVD release includes optional widescreen or standard formats, optional French and Spanish soundtracks, original theatrical trailer, and Dolby digital sound. --Tom Keogh Product Description&newline;Golden Globe® winner* John Travolta leads an all-star cast in the hysterical comedy thatTime calls &doublequote;smart, shrewdly crafted [and] hilarious!&doublequote; Loan shark Chili Palmer (Travolta) is bored with the business. So when he arrives in LA to collect a debt from down-and-out filmmaker Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), Chili talks tough...and then pitches Harry a script idea. Immediately, Chili is swept into the Hollywood scene: He schmoozes film star Martin Weir (Danny DeVito), romances B-movie queen Karen Flores (Rene Russo) and even gets reservations at the hottest restaurants intown. In fact, all would be smooth for this cool new producer, if it weren't for the drug smugglersand the angry mobster who won't leave him alone! *1996: Actor (Comedy)Get Shorty Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1995
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15 |
Kingsley, Ben Gielgud, John Gandhi
Attenborough, Richard December 7, 1992 VHS 191 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com&newline;Sir Richard Attenborough's 1982 multiple-Oscar winner (including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Ben Kingsley) is an engrossing, reverential look at the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who introduced the doctrine of nonviolent resistance to the colonized people of India and who ultimately gained the nation its independence. Kingsley is magnificent as Gandhi as he changes over the course of the three-hour film from an insignificant lawyer to an international leader and symbol. Strong on history (the historic division between India and Pakistan, still a huge problem today, can be seen in its formative stages here) as well as character and ideas, this is a fine film. --Tom Keogh Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1982
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Lane, Diane Cusack, John Must Love Dogs
Goldberg, Gary David December 20, 2005 DVD 98 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com&newline;The combined charisma of Diane Lane and John Cusack gives a lift to Must Love Dogs, a romantic comedy built on the comic potential of internet dating. Sarah (Lane, Under the Tuscan Sun), a preschool teacher and recent divorcee, has her entire family bugging her to get back in the dating pool. Finally her sister (dependable second banana Elizabeth Perkins, Big) puts an ad for Sarah online; a host of questionable prospects respond, but Sarah meets one guy--a boat builder named Jake (John Cusack, High Fidelity, Say Anything)--who shows promise, though he himself is recently divorced and a little tender. Unfortunately, Sarah also feels sparks with the father (Dermot Mulroney, My Best Friend's Wedding) of one of her students, and when paths cross, trouble follows. Must Love Dogs has some amusing scenes, but the tone and quality is wildly erratic--it's as if the movie was broken into a dozen parts and randomly assigned to different writers and directors, some of whom were making a bad sitcom, some of whom were making a good sitcom, and some of whom were making a movie that blended wry comedy with some deft psychological insight. The great cast (in addition to solid work from those mentioned above, there's also Stockard Channing and Christopher Plummer) keep the story moving, but for every amusing moment there are two that are plastic, forced, or wince-inducing. --Bret Fetzer Product Description&newline;Must Love Dogs tells the story of Sarah Nolan (Diane Lane), a newly divorced woman cautiously rediscovering romance with the enthusiastic but often misguided help of her well-meaning family. As she braves a series of hilarious disastrous mismatches and first dates, Sarah begins to trust her own instincts again and learns that. no matter what, it's never a good idea to give up on love.&newline;&newline;DVD Features:&newline;Additional Scenes&newline;Gag Reel Closed Caption: N Copyright: 2005
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20 |
Lange, Jessica Quaid, Dennis Everybody's All American
Hackford, Taylor April 1, 1992 VHS 127 minutes
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com&newline;When the cheering and MVP perks stop, what then? This ambitious adaptation of Frank Deford's novel about three tumultuous decades in the lives of a Washington Redskins football star and his two biggest fans attempts to answer this question. Dennis Quaid has his rangiest role to date as Gavin Grey, who goes, De Niro-like, from sinewy gridiron Adonis to embittered has-been with sizable beer gut. Jessica Lange brings her customary class and inner strength to Babs, the Louisiana State homecoming queen who marries college sweetheart Gavin and forfeits her identity; Timothy Hutton is Donnie, Gavin's cousin who secretly pines for the neglected Babs. But it's big guy John Goodman in one of his first screen roles who blasts through in this cross between The Way We Were and North Dallas Forty. Taylor Hackford, no slouch at epic melodramas (The Devil's Advocate), directed from a script by Tom Rickman (Oscar-nominated for Coal Miner's Daughter). Gavin's two-hours-later epiphany? &doublequote;There's more to life than making touchdowns.&doublequote; --Glenn Lovell Closed Caption: N Copyright: 1988
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